FINDING AUTHENTICITY IN
STANDARDIZATION
Jessica Lafontaine and Bethany Costello-Stebelton
De La Salle Institute, Chicago
[email protected]
[email protected]
“I feel nervous because this is the test that will determine the rest of my
life.” –DLS student
High school students see writing for the ACT and SAT as authentic writing experiences.
The tests intend to measure whether or not they can do authentic writing in college.
“The ACT writing test is a 40-minute essay test that measures your writing skills. The test
consists of one writing prompt that will describe a complex issue and present three
different perspectives on that issue,” (ACT.org).
“It’s About the Real World
The SAT Essay is a lot like a typical college writing assignment in which you’re asked to
analyze a text. Take the SAT with Essay and show colleges that you’re ready to come to
campus and write.
What You’ll Do
Read a passage.
Explain how the author builds an argument to persuade an audience.
Support your explanation with evidence from the passage,”
(https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/inside-the-test/essay) .
WHAT IT TAKES: PROVIDING AN
AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCE
• Authentic writing skills
• We all teach students to analyze, synthesize, and construct an
argument.
• This presentation will show how to do those things in ways that more
closely mimic the actual look and wording of the standardized
tests in order to increase transfer, particularly for struggling students.
WHAT IT TAKES: FINDING STUDENT
VOICE IN STANDARDIZATION
• Writing Assignments to follow that help students find their voices
within the curriculum
• ACT and SAT modeled in the classroom
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nickel & Dimed: on not getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Co-educational learning
Social networking
Kurt Vonnegut’s letter, “I am very real”
Crucible Proctor’s dilemma assignment
Nonfiction article in connection to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
This is a
real ACT
prompt
This is a real SAT prompt
POSITIVE STUDENT RESPONSES TO
THIS APPROACH
• “I feel prepared because of all of the practice that I have received through
my education at De La Salle. From working on prompts in class to taking the
ACT prep class, I feel very prepared for this.”
-DLS student
• “I feel confident because of my junior year teacher showing me how to
extract evidence and main points out of the information I’m given as well as
integrate what’s in the text with what I’ve been taught.”
-DLS student
#1: ASSISTING STUDENTS IN
INTERPRETING WRITING PROMPTS
• “I feel angry because of the fact that we can’t choose the topic we are
writing about.” -DLS student
• Build confidence here
• Talk about power of choice and voice here
• Practice with topics they are care about and want to talk about.
• Poll students for hot topics, and teach paragraph and voice:
• Co-ed learning is HOT @ DLS
• Digital Lives
• Presidential Election?
• Pre-writing and brainstorming
• In-class debates
• Choose controversial topic
• Engage in a four-corner debate
• Write up perspectives
• Carousel activity
• Loose Socratic Seminar on topic
#2: ASSISTING STUDENTS IN
GENERATING IDEAS
#3: ASSISTING STUDENTS IN
STRUCTURING ESSAYS
PART 1
• Weekly writing skills--‘CERCA’ Fridays
• Normed paragraph structure
• Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, Counterargument, Audience
Recognition
• https://thinkcerca.com/
• Use current events and newspaper articles
• Use sample ACT/SAT prompts they already have opinions on
• Co-ed classrooms, social networking
Student
voice
#3: ASSISTING STUDENTS IN
STRUCTURING ESSAYS
PART 2
• ACT/SAT ready
• How to:
• organize thoughts/perspectives
• multiple body paragraphs
Body 1
Claim 1: my best
argument
Developed from
myself OR in line with
one of the
perspectives given
Evidence to support
An example
Body 2
Claim 2: next
argument
Developed from
perspectives given
Body 3
Counter
Developed from
opposing perspective
given
Evidence to support
An example
Rebuttal
However…
Body 1
Body 2
Claim 1: my best argument
Claim 2: next argument
Developed from perspectives given
Developed from perspectives given
Evidence to support
Evidence to support
An example
An example
Counter:
Counter:
Implications and/or rebuttal
Implications and/or rebuttal
These can be
interchangeable;
this is student voice
and choice.
Body 1
Body 2
Body 3
Use of Evidence
Use of Reasoning
Implications/Counter
Evidence to support
Evidence to support
Rebuttal
An example
An example
However…
Body 1
Body 2
Claim 1: authors best argumentative approach:
Claim 2: next best argumentative approach:
evidence?
reasoning?
Developed from author’s own writing
Developed from author’s own writing
Evidence to support
Evidence to support
An example
An example
Counter:
Counter:
Implications and/or rebuttal
Implications and/or rebuttal
• “Your tips really improved my writing style going into the writing test of the
ACT. The chart really broke down how to interpret the perspectives.”
-DLS student
#4: ASSISTING STUDENTS IN
SYNTHESIZING AND CLOSE READING
• ACT: “Explain the relationship between your perspective and those given.”
• SAT: “Consider how the author uses stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word
choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.”
• Identifying relationships between ideas
• Multiple related, but diverse, sources
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen
• “Ambush” by Tim O’Brien
• “Why Soldiers Won’t Talk” by John Steinbeck
• Repetitive during and after reading questions
• Essay asking them to use textual evidence from multiple sources to answer the central question:
Based on your reading of the war literature, what is your conclusion about why soldiers are
hesitant to speak of their experiences in battle?
• Essay asking them to compare the writing of multiple works of literature
• SAT-style essay about “I am very real” by Kurt Vonnegut
FINAL PURPOSE: TEACH TO THE TEST
WITHOUT TEACHING TO THE TEST
TEACH
LITERARY
CURRICULUM
AND
STANDARDIZED
TESTS
TEACH TEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND
STANDARDIZED TESTS
Breaking arguments down to better understand
what the argument is, its strengths and
weaknesses, and how it is constructed
• What is Singer’s claim?
• What is the piece of evidence
you find most convincing?
Why?
• Does Singer’s reasoning seem
believable to you? Be specific.
Why or why not?
• What persuasive techniques
does he use in his essay and are
these effective? Explain.
• What stylistic features does he
use in his essay and are these
effective? Explain.
Works with anything argumentative you’re
reading or watching
• What is Steinbeck’s claim in “Why
Soldiers Won’t Talk”?
• What is the piece of evidence you
find most convincing? Why?
• Does Steinbeck’s reasoning seem
believable to you? Be specific.
Why or why not?
• What persuasive techniques does
he use in his essay and are these
effective? Explain.
• What stylistic features does he use
in his essay and are these effective?
Explain.
TEACH ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING AND
STANDARDIZED TESTS
Body 1
Claim 1: my best
argument
Developed from
myself OR in line
with one of the
perspectives given
Evidence to support
An example
Body 2
Claim 2: next
argument
Developed from
perspectives given
Body 3
Counter
Developed from
opposing
perspective given
Evidence to support Rebuttal
An example
However…
QUESTIONS?
HOW TO CREATE ASSIGNMENTS LIKE
THESE USING ANY TOPIC, WORK OF
LITERATURE, OR SUBJECT: